By Marcy Magiera With Star Wars: The Force Awakens closing in on $2 billion in global ticket sales and continuing to topple box-office records on an almost daily basis a month after its opening, it's clear the latest installment in the sci-fi epic will continue to drive licensed merchandise sales throughout 2016—and beyond. Once The Force Awakens leaves theaters, there … [Read more...] about Turtles, Trolls and Other Movie Licenses That Will Challenge Star Wars This Year
Dreamworks
Place-based Strategy Getting DreamWorks Where it Wants to Go
By Marcy Magiera DreamWorks Animation (DWA) must be as happy as, well, an ogre in a swamp with its strategy to exploit Shrek, Hiccup, Oh, Alex and other characters in location-based licensing. As its DreamWorks DreamPlace holiday attractions roll out in malls across the U.S. and London, the movie studio reported that its consumer product revenues more than doubled in the third … [Read more...] about Place-based Strategy Getting DreamWorks Where it Wants to Go
Star Wars Demonstrates Power of Franchises for Licensing, Theaters
By Marcy Magiera As this story was being written and The Licensing Letter’s semi-annual chart of movies with licensing potential compiled, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was breaking advance ticket sales records two months ahead of its Dec. 18 opening. Online ticketing sites Fandango and MovieTickets.com reportedly crashed for some users under the heavy traffic when tickets went … [Read more...] about Star Wars Demonstrates Power of Franchises for Licensing, Theaters
Internet Changes Dynamics of Kids’ TV
By Marcy Magiera Earlier this month, as much of the television industry was preparing to travel to France for market MIPCOM and its children's programming section, MIPJunior, Netflix announced that it will add seven new original series for older kids to its streaming service beginning this December. The slate, which includes shows based on established brands including LEGO and … [Read more...] about Internet Changes Dynamics of Kids’ TV
What’s Hot & What’s Not in 2015 Licensed Entertainment Property Sales
By Glenn Demby 'Tis the season for corporate earnings reports. Highlights from major entertainment licensors Disney, DreamWorks and Time Warner: Hot: Disney's consumer products division which grew 6% to $954 million Not Hot: Spider-Man which was actually down for the quarter Hot: The Avengers, Frozen and Star Wars which drove growth in Disney consumer products Not … [Read more...] about What’s Hot & What’s Not in 2015 Licensed Entertainment Property Sales
DreamWorks Line Pairs Toons & Designers
DreamWorks Animation has teamed with famous fashion designers for Character Clash, a limited edition apparel line featuring an iconic character from the world of comics and cartoons. The men’s line, unveiled during New York Fashion Week, includes t-shirts and hoodies pairing, among others, Felix the Cat/Timo Weiland, Underdog/Billy Reid, Richie Rich/Michael Bastian, Where’s … [Read more...] about DreamWorks Line Pairs Toons & Designers
Licensing Silver Lining for DreamWorks
Consumer products licensing was the bright spot in a challenging 2014 for DreamWorks Animation, which saw its films Penguins of Madagascar and Mr. Peabody and Sherman under-perform in theaters. Consumer product revenue rose 77.5% to $22.1 million in the fourth quarter, while segment gross profit rose to $6.1 million due to higher sales of the studio’s merchandise, … [Read more...] about Licensing Silver Lining for DreamWorks
Variations on a Retail Theme
Five years ago, Toys 'R' Us opened 350 holiday express pop-up stores during the fourth quarter. The program was vastly scaled back the following year and has pretty much disappeared. And while TRU wasn’t the first to implement a pop-up concept, its efforts in 2009 gave rise to a wide array of much smaller—often single-unit pop-ups—that have been as much about promotion as … [Read more...] about Variations on a Retail Theme
Iconix: Owning (and Licensing) is Believing
Iconix has $750 million in go-forward guaranteed minimum royalties for 2015, excluding renewals, the company reported in the course of its analysts’ call following release of its third-quarter 2014 results. The company has renewed four major DTR agreements under the same terms as the prior deals: Danskin Now (Walmart), Mudd (Kohl’s), Material Girl (Macy’s), and Fieldcrest … [Read more...] about Iconix: Owning (and Licensing) is Believing